Rendon shows no mercy upon hometown team

WASHINGTON – Former Rice star Anthony Rendon had another impressive night against his hometown team.

Former Rice standout Anthony Rendon is making a name for himself with the Washington Nationals, much to the chagrin of the Astros on Wednesday. (Smiley N. Pool / Houston Chronicle)

Rendon, who starred at Lamar High School and Rice University before being selected No. 6 overall in 2011, was 2-for-5 with a monstrous home run in the seventh inning off Josh Zeid, helping the Nationals complete the two-game sweep with a 6-5 victory at Nationals Park on Wednesday night.

“Anthony Rendon is a good player and he continues to swing a hot bat against us,” Bo Porter said. “We felt like Zeid was going to be able to get those first two guys and have (Darin) Downs ready for (Adam) LaRoche. You look at that ballclub over there and it’s a veteran team with some young, talented guys sprinkled in, and they did a good job tonight.”

Zeid paid dearly for a fastball he left up to Rendon, who is now 9-for-19 with two home runs and seven RBIs in his brief career against the Astros.

“Scott (Feldman) pitched great and our team did a really good job of getting ahead early,” Zeid said. “I had a job to do to come in and hold the lead, and I didn’t do that. I didn’t get ahead of guys. I left balls up in the zone, and major league hitters are going to turn around and make you feel pretty bad.”